SA U19s want to level up against New Zealand

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Cape Town - The South Africa under-19s are set for their second clash against New
Zealand in the fifth and sixth place Plate Championship semi-final of the ICC U19 World Cup in Christchurch on Friday (Saturday in New Zealand).

The young Proteas hope to do better
than the last time the sides met in the group stage of the competition where
they suffered a 71-run loss to the hosts in Tauranga just one week ago.

SA U19 vice-captain Wandile Makwetu says they are determined to overcome their
disappointment in their own performances which led to their being knocked out
in the quarter-final against Pakistan.

He added that they will play their best brand of cricket and end the tournament on a positive note to restore pride to the
badge.

"We were
disappointed that we lost to New Zealand the first time, so there's that pride
that we're playing for to get one over them this time," he commented after the
team's practice this afternoon.

"We may be out of the tournament, but we want
to finish on a high here and put in two strong performances. There's enough
there for the boys to play for and we're just excited to get back out there
again and put on a good performance."

The
wicketkeeper-batsman does not believe that the home side have a psychological
advantage on his team as they have just come off their own fresh, confidence
bashing, 202-run quarter-final defeat to Afghanistan which knocked them out of
the running for the tournament.

"Both teams
are coming off pretty disappointing quarter-final losses and theirs is a bit
more recent and they've had a shorter turnaround time than we have," Makwetu
continued.

"I can't speak for them, but I know that we are in a better space
now than we were after the Pakistan game. We had to fight a few demons off
after that game but I think the boys are ready to go out there and put on a
performance that the South African public and the 25 people here in our
(touring) group can be proud of."

South
Africa were let down by a sub-par batting performance in their knock-out match,
paired with too many extras bowled - 19 to be exact, 18 of which were wides.

Makwetu said that both were areas of concern that he hopes the team have come
to grips with, as a vast improvement in them will be the difference between
winning and losing.

"I think
the batting group hasn't clicked as much as we would have liked to so far," he
went on.

"There's some top order runs that the guys will go out there and try score
tomorrow. On the bowling side, we just want to cut down on those extras and
just be really clinical. If we get an opportunity to put the New Zealanders to
bed, we'll try and take that as quickly as possible.

"I think
the boys have shown a lot of good fight in difficult times on this tour, but
I'd like to see them get out there and really execute their skills properly and
not get backed into a corner. As much as we enjoy that fighting spirit, we want
to go out there and dominate the game. We want to get on top of New Zealand and
really put them away when we get the opportunity."

The match will be broadcast live on SuperSport 2 from 23:15 (SAST) on Friday.

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